I truly do feel she was sneaky.
She continued her charade that she was at the house.
I know she intended to be misleading, even though she said what she did.
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I have had this situation as well (not trapped in my house) but a group business booking, so a lack of responsibility for the state of the place. Mountains of take away rubbish and empty bottles. I have never had a successful third party booking. Even the ones that have cared for the place appropriately haven’t received the information that they needed as it’s all second hand or not at all.
I have this in my house rules:
No third party or gift bookings.
Unregistered guests are not permitted.
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Sorry, Poppy …but isn’t the information about always ‘second hand’ if it is more than 1 person?
Usually one person has the account and then passes on the information received or not.
It illusional to think that everyone in a group will look at all the rules in a timely fashion…the more I think about it …a short list on the fridge, some post it’s at quirky spots is the way to go.
You need to find out if it was a third party booking (against Airbnb rules) or if it was a work booking (I don’t remember what its called.) If it’s the work booking, the it’s a separate type of account and it’s permitted. I only learned of this when I had it happen to me.
How do I find that info out? > Is there a place that ABB gives notice to owner?
Also, I am not in the “work category” as I am not willing to meet the criteria ABB requires to be in that category.
Excellent input and feedback !
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I am not in the work category either. I require my guests (and their guests) to provide govt. photo ids. This I how I often discover 3rd party books. When I had this booking, I called Airbnb and that’s when I learned that there was a new distinction. I would call Airbnb and find out. Please post on this thread when you find out. Thanks.
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I don’t think Corporate guests can book under the Work Ready Programme unless the host has joined it. I de-listed after finding self check-in trying to be abused by non working guests. I’ve since had requests for third party bookings, including gifts, that I’ve declined uncounted.
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You would know if it was a business booking as it will show up as such when people book. However you said she booked from a personal account, so clearly in this case it wasn’t.
When I have these sort of inquiries I suggest they set up a business account if they want to book on behalf of colleagues.
As Mrs J says you need to be ‘business ready’ to receive these bookings.
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How was this sneaky? Its common for admin staff to book with a work address for their work team? What harm was done? They left the place in good shape? I guess I dont understand what there is to be wound up about. She deserves a positive review. You are reading into this being underhanded. She never said she was there. She could have gotten feedback from the team. You should have msged about the car block…That wasnt malicious either. She would have simply msges someone to move it.
Just ask pointed questions next time and you can cancel without penalty if its in your listing.
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So if it wasn’t a business booking it most certainly was an undisclosed 3rd party booking, unsupported by the platform. Its lucky nothing more serious went wrong. Thumbs down.
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I appreciate your input, and I appreciate everyone’s input.
I am good with varied opinions ( except if someone personally attacks me ).
And I am learning a lot about business bookings and 33rd party bookings.
I am still pondering and I have 10 more days to ponder !
I do plan to call ABB next week and get clarifications on the business bookings and 3rd party bookings. With the hurricane on the east coast now, I just decided to inquire further next week instead of now.
The behavior was sneaky ( to me ) because I am sure she found it easier to pretend she was here rather than having to explain and type. My gut tells me she did not consult with the group prior to answering my texts, she just winged it. My gut.
I also would like to add one other very minor piece of info that I did not mention above. Our local police recommend lights on at night. We ask everyone to keep the front porch light on during dark. So I texted the first night to her ( I thought she was here ) asking for the porch light to be on at dark and off at daylight. No answer, and porch light stayed dark all night. I thought that was very odd.
Also, I am not sure if I mentioned this either…when the group went out to that meeting and blocked me in, they also did not lock the front door.
This good dialogue with everyone is triggering me to remember and elaborate on other details.
I think I covered everything now.
I never had a 3rd party booking before, and so yes, I missed the red flags, and so I did not ask pointed questions. I thought 3rd party bookings were prohibited, and I am not part of a business or work collection purposely. I appeal to families, and missed the signs, or I would have asked and probed further. I truly thought she was part of the “team”. I trusted she would be present with the group. My misreading of her inquiry.
It was my choice not to message her when I was blocked in, because I did not want to disrupt a business meeting…the banquet meeting included realtors who were also local, and It was not in my personal business interest to get the largest local real estate organization in my town angry at me for dragging someone out of their meeting. I balanced my inconvenience of staying home for a night, against interrupting a meeting that could trigger a deeper issue, and even trigger a bad review. I dont need the bad review about parking restrictions in order to “warn” future guests, since during 9 years It has not been an issue. Yup, a bit of a fear of a bad review for enforcing my rules. We all deal with that balance, don’t we?
My house rules, and my contract are clear and sent a few times prior to arrival. My information specifies the allowed # of cars with the group, and also parking instructions ( dont block the garage ! ) . I also have a sign in the house - it is the Only sign in the house. It is also in the manual. When this extra car showed up, it was one extra car more then was allowed on the contract, and it blocked me in for an evening. They had 7 cars in my driveway. Since this has not happened before ( except one other time ) in 9 years, I attribute this to a lack of a person in charge, and to a 3rd party booking experience.
Again, thank you for sharing feedback and giving your input, and I hope my answers have helped you to understand my feelings and how I view the scenario. Now I have to decide how , and whether, or not, to transfer my feelings into a public review. There is a lot of to weigh before making a decision.
I have just unwittingly accepted a 3rd party booking! It’s a mother for a daughter, both have accounts, both seem honest and sincere. I tried desperately to get the daughter to book for herself, but her mum needs to pay and she lives in rural Wales without internet banking. I hope it’s OK!
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Airhost forum jinx…
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I vote no. I have several reasons but the one I think will matter most to you given your post is related to this:
If the woman who booked takes exception to your review and decides to share her displeasure with the “team” it may be worse than if you had interrupted the meeting. Honestly, if I made this booking and my team left the place in good condition with only a couple of minor rules infractions, then you blindsided me with a bad review, I would be furious, as in “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” furious.
Give a good review, and maybe tell her in a dispassionate friendly way that you don’t want 3rd party bookings that it would be appreciated if she were more forthcoming about all this. Then chalk it up as a learning experience.
Finally in re-reading your posts I don’t see when it is that you definititively determined that she was not present. She was not the guest you initially checked in? Or it’s self check in? Are you sure she wasn’t with the group or you just suspect she wasn’t?
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But the woman won’t see the review until after the fact and the OP doesn’t want them back anyway?
Irrelevant. I’m talking about revenge here.
I’ll repost this again:
If it wasn’t in her interest to piss them off then it’s not in her interest to piss them off now.
Are you on social media? Have you ever seen a revenge post when someone is angry at a local business? It’s not pretty. One of my dog hosting friends is suffering through a revenge post now.
I also think that unless georgygirl knows for a fact that the woman who booked didn’t show up it’s very risky to even insinutate that she wasn’t present. And when she posts those pics of herself photoshopped into the group pics taken from the deck and calls gg a liar, that’s not going to be pretty either.
I’m just trying to imagine the upside to the bad review vs the downside.
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I agree I don’t want any repercussions. I am sure she was not with the group. I have a text from someone at the house confirming this. I asked at departure time.
I think I figured it out on the 2nd day after a non response to my texting, and also the porch light staying off.
I surmise that she doesnt work at night, so my messages sent in the evening were ignored until daytime.
Arrival was 4PM. My husband did the check in. One woman showed ( not her) and said the rest were following. He did not think to ask about the main person as this is very common for us with family groups that family members come at different times.
It all comes down to how she reacts to a scolding review. Even private feedback might set her off. The lying type is unpredictable but in my experience they never take getting called out well.
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Sorry you felt attacked and felt the need to report my comment and have it removed.
Lets try this instead, sometimes there is only a problem if you perceive it as a problem. Many host on this forum myself included have stated that we do not see what the problem is, you knowingly accepted a 3rd party booking, at least you did not cancel it when discovered and the guest were pleasant and left the house in good shape. Thumbs up from me.
RR
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I did not “feel” attacked by you…I think it is extremely rude for you to analyze my personality.
I requested group input on guest behavior, booking, and stay situation; I did not open the feedback for your amatuer armchair analysis of my personality…
I request that you drop out of this thread and conversation.
I no longer want to have your input, nor your opinion, since you were aggressive and rude to me.
Your “try” is an abysmal failure. Go away.
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